


Bend Until You Break

by clotpolesonly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Laura Hale, Angry Derek Hale, Angst, Ficlet, Gen, Post-Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26604538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clotpolesonly/pseuds/clotpolesonly
Summary: “You may be the alpha, but you’renot mom!”Laura’s heart pounding in her ears was the only sound for a long, strained moment. She examined her brother’s flushed face, searching for any hint of remorse. Used to be, her baby brother would’ve felt bad for saying something so cruel. All she saw now was someone looking for a fight. But Laura didn’t have that in her, not anymore.“No,” she said. “I’m not. But I’mtrying.Don’t you see that?”
Relationships: Derek Hale & Laura Hale
Comments: 8
Kudos: 78
Collections: Laura Hale Appreciation Week 2020





	Bend Until You Break

**Author's Note:**

> aaaand some angst, to balance out yesterday's fluff XD for LHAW day 3, The Missing Years!

“A midnight curfew?” Derek asked, disdain dripping from his tone. “Seriously? _Why?_ ”

Laura made a face at him, the kind of stupid, bratty, big-sister face she’d been making at him their entire lives. Last year, he would’ve made the same face back, or kicked her in the shin under the table, or rolled his eyes so hard that their dad would laugh and warn him about his head coming unscrewed from his neck. Now, he just watched her, unamused and unnerving.

“Because I’m in charge,” Laura said, “and I say so.”

Derek’s jaw clenched, nostrils flaring around a sharp intake of breath. His chemosignals spike, the bitterness of anger and familiar heavy in the air between them.

“That’s not _fair,_ " he growled. “You can’t just declare that, Laura, you’re not—”

Laura lurched forward in her chair, anger of her own rising up to join the party. “Damn it, Derek, don’t even _go_ there.”

It wasn’t enough to stop him. Nothing was these days. And no matter how Laura tried to brace, she couldn’t possibly prepare herself enough for how hard Derek’s words hit her when he spat out, “You may be the alpha, but you’re _not mom!_ ”

Laura’s heart pounding in her ears was the only sound for a long, strained moment. She examined her brother’s flushed face, searching for any hint of remorse. Used to be, her baby brother would’ve felt bad for saying something so cruel. All she saw now was someone looking for a fight. But Laura didn’t have that in her, not anymore.

“No,” she said. “I’m not. But I’m _trying_. Don’t you see that?”

Her voice shook and almost broke. Weeks of stress had worn her strong and stable façade very, very thin, and the sudden wetness in Derek’s hard eyes was too much.

“I’m trying to keep us housed and fed,” she said. “I’m trying to handle the police and the lawyers and Peter’s doctors. I’m trying to get in contact with local alphas to find another pack, _any_ other pack, that would be willing to take us in. I’m trying to—”

A sob broke through, small and ruthlessly stifled, but not before Derek heard. Not before Derek’s stubborn, belligerent expression collapsed into something like guilt. Well, _good._ If a guilt-trip was what it took to make Derek stop taking risks with himself, then so be it. She’d already tried everything else.

Laura swiped a hand roughly across her eyes; she’d always hated crying, and she’d done way too much of it lately. Derek had done his fair share too, of course. But more than sad, he got angry. He scowled at everything, snapped and snarled at anyone who dared speak to him, and threw every ounce of support Laura tried to give him right back in her face.

Worst of all, he disappeared to god knew where at every opportunity, leaving Laura behind to wonder where he was, who he was with, and if they could be trusted. Wondering whether, at any second, she would be feeling the blinding snap of pain that meant she had lost the only person she had left in the world.

Laura pressed her palms flat against the table and took a steadying breath.

“I’m trying,” she said, slowly and clearly, “to make sure there aren’t hunters on our asses every hour of every day, waiting for the opportunity to finish what they started. I am _trying,_ Derek, to keep us alive! _That_ is why you can’t be out past midnight. So, for the love of god, will you just not fight me on this? _Please?_ ”

Derek’s cheeks were wet now too. Silent tears dripped from his chin onto his fists where they were clenched, white-knuckled, on the table’s edge. For a long moment, all he did was breathe. Then, one by one, he pried his claws from the wood.

He didn’t apologize. But he didn’t argue either. And apparently, at this point, that was the best that Laura could hope for.

With one last hard shake of his head, Derek shoved his chair back and disappeared from the kitchen without a backward glance, leaving Laura alone.

**Author's Note:**

> [with a gifset on tumblr!](https://clotpolesonly.tumblr.com/post/629996831252873216/for-laurahale-appreciation-week-day-three-the)


End file.
